The main international oil contract Brent North Sea fell back under $100 Friday after surging past the key milestone the previous day on escalating Middle East strikes, helping US and European stock markets stabilize.
Brent dropped about four percent to under $97 a barrel, having soared seven percent Thursday. The key US contract, West Texas Intermediate, declined more than three percent after having gained more than six percent on Thursday.
The sizeable jumps had come after Yemen's Houthi rebels struck oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially opening a new front in the Middle East war.
Despite the United States launching fresh strikes Friday on Iran, there was relief on markets that some ships were still able to pass through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a crucial passage into the Red Sea.
"Ships with Saudi crude are still crossing...so for now, it is not a full blockade, reducing a bit the risk of an even tighter oil market," Giovanni Staunovo, a commodities analyst at Swiss bank UBS, told AFP.
